The American Indian Movement: The Trail Of Broken Treaties

The American Indian Movement was inspired by the success of the Civil Rights Movement. Therefore, they adopted some peaceful practices that worked for the Civil Rights Movement, most of which were protests and marches. However, these while these marches and protests started out tranquil. Though they eventually, when provoked, became and anarchist rebellions; fully fledged with property destruction and violent occupation. The most well-known of AIM’s marches is the Trail of Broken Treaties (a play on the forced long march that the Cherokee made from their homes in the heartland of the South to Oklahoma, called the Trail of Tears). A group of activist left the West Coast and planned to drive all the way to BIA headquarters located in the District of Colombia. AIM let BIA know ahead of time that they were coming, and in the same letter they presented a list of demands the must be met. Things included in this list were:
The repeal of the Indian Appropriations Act of 1871, which had ended the Native

Instead BIA forbid to give them access and told AIM to send they caravan back west. In response to BIA’s inhospitality, AIM seized the headquarters by force, devastated the building and kicked out BIA workers. They also managed to pillage documents that bared the exploitations that BIA had been practicing for decades. In the end AIM held down the headquarters for 6 days. The US Government got involved and “siege came to an end when protesters accepted the government's offer of immunity from prosecution, funds for their transportation home, and consideration of AIM's demands. “(Activist, Rebels, and Reformers). However, the Government did not even consider any of the demands on AIM’s list. To be frank, they probably threw it in the trash without a moment hesitation. The Government has not changed much in the last thirty years, they still choose who is listened to and who is